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Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Thankfully the officers were not harmed....

And the K9 didn't get an infection....

K9s and helicopters are bi-polar, if you will. I find 9 time out of 10, by the time they get to the scene, the situation is handled, or they are disregarded for the same reason. But when they are on the scene, they are a godsend. Like here.

I've had to handle suspects on PCP and other narcotics and this dude is showing signs of being on them. I say that because he is naked and refusing orders of multiple officers. Suspects on PCP often take their cloths off because they are hot as hell. One suspect we took down had a fever of 106 by the time the medics got him in the ambulance. They are not to be played with.

That as background I found this article interesting.
  

Cops Allow Police Dog to Bite Naked, Unarmed Man

Video raises questions about excessive force.

The NBC4 I-Team has obtained police body cam video — never before seen publicly — that shows cops allowing a K-9 to bite a naked, unarmed man, including for over 40 seconds after officers had him pinned to the ground.

Attorneys who've seen the video say it amounts to excessive force, and raises questions for all police departments about how they use K-9s...

True, that's their job, to sue for money. Counselor, how much did you make on this?
The initial police call came out around 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday in August 2015. Patrol officers with the San Diego Police Department were asked to check on the welfare of a naked man screaming and running through a canyon in University City, a San Diego suburb near La Jolla, according to police reports obtained by the NBC4 I-Team.

It took some time for the officers to locate the man hiding in a rustic canyon area surrounded by homes and a high school. Officers believed the man was under the influence of a controlled substance, which the man later admitted to NBC4 was true.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you.
In the police video, you see officers asking the naked man to walk up the hillside toward them. He complies with their commands until he gets to the top of the canyon.

You hear the officers ordering the man to "turn around, turn around." He says "no" several times in a defiant voice.

Just two seconds later, and without warning, the K-9 officer gives his police dog the command to bite the subject...

Per the article, warming is suggested but not required by the SDPD. And decisions like this must be made close to instantly. One thing I'll point out is if the man starts to fight (which is what I'm getting from his actions) he or the officers could go rolling down that canyon side and get injured even more.
The dog takes down the man immediately. Then four officers pinned the man to the ground, but allowed the dog to violently bite the man’s leg for 44 more seconds. Other San Diego Police Officers hold the subject down and cuff him.

"It wasn’t necessary to use the dog to begin with and it sure as hell wasn’t necessary or needed or appropriate to let the dog continue to bite," said noted civil rights attorney Donald W. Cook.

The NBC4 I-Team watched the video with Cook, who has represented hundreds of people bitten by police dogs over a 30-year career. He does not represent the man in the police video.

"It’s barbaric," he said.
No, it's intermediate force. If you listen to everyone they are screaming "put your hands in the back!" and "stop resisting!" Getting through the drug caused haze is a major problem.
...The man, a 25-year-old businessman in San Diego for a convention, told NBC4 he ended up naked in that canyon after a night of hard partying.

"I take some responsibility because I was under the influence," said the man, who asked not to be named. "But nothing justifies the cops used of such force," he said.

Added attorney Cook, "It's not just a San Diego problem. It's a problem in any department where they’re letting a dog attack and bite non-dangerous suspect..."

Mr Cook, you are wrong. Your client was not a "non-dangerous suspect," he was non-compliant, he was taking an aggressive stance and if there was a fight on that edge a lot more people would have been injured. Now if your client had simply put his hands behind his back, the problem is solved. But he more than indicated he would not. So intermediate force was used.

Again I go back to the issue of the narcotics. One time in Ben Taub Hospital we had a woman on PCP and it took eightmen to get to strapped down to the gurney. And after the nurse administered the drug cocktail (9 injections, really good s^&*) the patient normally is zoned out in less than 10 minutes. This woman was still pulling at her restrains 20 minutes later and was only starting to slow down after 30. It's superhuman strength and a serious threat to cops.

Next time Mr. "asked not to be named," try staying off the PCP or wet. Good work SDPD.

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